Global Food.

Is this an 'Italian' restaurant?.. Toy Story's Pizza Planet Restaurant.

The worlds population is becoming more and more multicultural, and so is its pallet. However, we still associate certain foods with the races they come from. Hot curries are Indian, noodles are Asian, burritos are Mexican, yet these are all foods that are regularly part of the Australian diet. Hell, nobody calls getting pizza 'Italian', because it's so heavily entrenched within our society. In regards to Australia, this could be because we have no actual food identity, I mean apparently lammingtons are from New Zealand, but really, it's all about what's available, something which is dictated entirely by those who control the food businesses. In the reading, Patel,(2007) remarks about the type of food which is presented to us. He states that food that is transportable, long lasting and  easier to make visually appealing will get picked against others while remarking about the many types of apples there are vs the amount we have to choose from. The same could be said when thinking about what food is advertised to us on Facebook, whether by our friends or companies. These companies pay money to appear as sponsored posts, so it's likely they have serious impact on sales, which means that it influences people's choices.


Alcohol is perhaps the best example of this. Alcohol based posts are littered over Facebook, and I'd wager that over 50% of posts of my friends somehow relates to alcohol.I mean if you go out, but don't post about how drunk you are to Facebook, did you even go out? The answer is yes, but that's not the case for some people. And you know the companies love this exposure, as they often post re-post photos or create competitions encouraging the behavior, always making sure to remind people to 'drink responsibly'  in the smallest text available. And this isn't going away any time soon, alcohol has always been part of our culture, social media has only enhanced it(Kuttainen,2015).


References

Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives, and the making of place, lecture 8: Food networks. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Patel, R. (2007). Stuffed and starved: Markets, power and the hidden battle for the world food system. Melbourne, Australia: Black I

Image Creds
Author and date unknown, Pizza Planet, retrieved from http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/pixar/images/d/d3/Pizza_Planet2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111206152431